FYI,

In order to have an international account at Merrill, you needed to get the international FA designation.  The internal course you needed to take was closed a few years ago.......so, I gave up trying to open up those accounts.....   I stopped trying about a year ago.........not a big deal for me.....I had 2 average sized account to open (between 100 and 150K)......   Not sure if that designaiton was closed to FA's in my region or firmwide, but I was unable to take it.....   To me, it wasn't a big deal then........and, if what you say is true, it's a non-event now.....   If your friend has the IFA designation, and does a lot of international business, then that would suck, but most FA's wouldn't be affected......